Time Inc. CEO Laura Lang said she is in the process of slashing 500 jobs, or about 6 percent of its global staff of 8,000, as the publisher wrestles with slumping print advertising.
The layoffs are part of Time Warner CEO Jeff Bewkes’ mandate to shave $100 million in costs from the hard-pressed publishing subsidiary. The problem for Time Inc. and other publishers is that digital revenue—while growing rapidly—isn’t enough to offset the erosion of print ad dollars.
The company, which is home to venerable weeklies such as Time, People and Sports Illustrated, has had bigger cutbacks in terms of absolute numbers, but this latest round is the largest on a percentage basis. The Post first reported earlier this month that Time Inc. would shed between 500 and 700 jobs.
“With the significant and ongoing changes in our industry, we must continue to transform out company into one that is leaner, more nimble and more innately multi-platform,” said Lang, who joined Time over a year ago from digital ad firm Digitas, where she was the CEO.
“To make this change, we need to operate as smartly and efficiently as possible to create room for critical investments and new initiatives. These reductions are part of this important transformation process.”
Insiders said that less than half the cuts will be at Time Inc.’s New York headquarters.
The cutbacks will also hit London-based subsidiary IPC and the back-shop operation in Tampa, Fla., where a sizable staff that falls under the consumer marketing division is responsible for handling subscription-renewal efforts.
The consumer marketing unit has been without an operating head for close to a year.
Some in the rank-and-file gripe that the cutbacks are taking place in the absence of any clear direction forward for the company.
“This is just cutting for the sake of cutting,” said one high ranking insider.
“We need to do it, I guess,” said another insider. “But people want to know what is going on. We need a global road show — and it should start inside.”